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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27083995">winter lasts all year</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/epicmoonintensifies/pseuds/epicmoonintensifies'>epicmoonintensifies</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Imagine RWBY Tumblr Transfers [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>RWBY</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, reader is a maiden</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-09 02:20:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>973</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27083995</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/epicmoonintensifies/pseuds/epicmoonintensifies</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hazel's relationship is an honest one. Honest enough for both of you to know that there are secrets between you, and honest enough about that to know not to ask.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hazel Rainart/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Imagine RWBY Tumblr Transfers [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1979284</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>winter lasts all year</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="post_body">He never gets to the door of your house before you notice him. He isn’t sure how you always know, but as he makes his way up the path to your home, you rush out your front door and run to him, as excited to see him as you were the last time, and the time before that, and every other time he comes to visit you.</p><p class="post_body">(He loves your smile, always so bright for him, and he loves your hands, so cold and yet never chilling him when you wrap him in an embrace, and he loves that <em>he</em> is the one who makes you so happy.)</p><p class="post_body">It seems to Hazel that it is always cold where you live. He imagines that it’s due to the fact that your house is constantly in the shadow of surrounding mountains, never receiving direct sunlight. The frost can never melt, the mist can never burn off, and when snow comes, it comes for a very lengthy stay. Summer is a brief season that looks more like what the rest of the world would call spring, and the rest of the year is dominated by a cold and lasting winter.</p><p class="post_body">Not that he minds. The <em>inside</em> of your house is always warm, and he likes snow well enough that it’s never a bother to him.</p><p class="post_body">“I missed you,” you say.</p><p class="post_body">He only laughs when you say that, soft huffs of air that condense into clouds. He missed you too, but you know that. That’s another thing he loves about you.</p><p class="post_body">(You demand no words from him. He’s<em> good</em> with words, always knowing the right thing to say, but rarely feeling the need to say it when deeds speak louder and so much clearer than his best words ever could. You know that. You understand the language of deeds, and so he loves you with his kisses and with his hands. He loves you with comforts and favors and gifts and <em>care</em>, and he does so fully.)</p><p class="post_body">“Come in, there are cookies!” you say, putting your cold hand in his warm one and tugging.</p><p class="post_body">“Oh, really?” he says, and he does so with just enough false disappointment to make you turn and look at the gift he has brought you.</p><p class="post_body">(A box of favorite sweets might not have been enough for another woman, but just as you do not demand words from him, you do not demand bright jewels or fine chocolates. He likes to give them to you anyway.)</p><p class="post_body">“Those are for me and the cookies are for you,” you say, taking the box from him. You hold it under your nose to smell. “Mm, you always get the best ones!”</p><p class="post_body">Of course he does. How could he not?</p><hr/><p class="post_body">Sometimes you cry and he doesn’t know why.</p><p class="post_body">“I’m tired, I’m <em>tired</em>,” you say, crying into your folded hands. “I’m so tired.”</p><p class="post_body">And then you settle, releasing the tears until there are no more. He makes you drink a glass of water and then he sits and wait in silence, waiting for you to speak. You will say something eventually, he thinks. You will cry until you cannot spill one more tear, and then you will tell him what has dragged the life from his love. You will tell him what could possibly hurt you so in a place like this. You will tell him.</p><p class="post_body">You don’t tell him.</p><p class="post_body">Later, you pretend that nothing happened, and he doesn’t have to pretend at all.</p><hr/><p class="post_body">“I’m going to be gone for awhile,” you inform him, and he accepts this. He doesn’t tell you where he goes, either, although he thinks you might suspect. This is only fair.</p><p class="post_body">You come back from these trips happier, but still just as glad, if not more so, to be reunited with him.</p><p class="post_body">He doesn’t know where you go or why, but he wants to.</p><hr/><p class="post_body">Salem is furious.</p><p class="post_body"><em>A Maiden! A Maiden, within our reach this whole time!</em> She has shrieked these words, snarled them like the beasts she creates. She is <em>livid</em>. He is used to her anger being something quiet and calm on the surface but on fire beneath. This is not calm. There is no surface. Just fire.</p><p class="post_body">The Winter Maiden is near. Very near. She lives alone and vulnerable in the shadow of the mountains.</p><p class="post_body">Frost chills Hazel’s heart.</p><hr/><p class="post_body">He doesn’t blame you for not telling him. Not for a moment does he blame you. He didn’t tell you anything either. All that anybody wants in this world is to survive. That is natural instinct. You told him nothing, he told you nothing, and that was the price of no one dying.</p><p class="post_body">But now he knows.</p><p class="post_body">“Run,” he says. Now is the time to use those words that he is so good with. “Run and do <em>not</em> look back.”</p><p class="post_body">You hands clench the cloth of his tunic and frost blooms across the threads. Your power awes him. You are a Maiden, something strange and <em>magical</em> and beyond his reach, and yet you are human and you are here, loving him.</p><p class="post_body">(He loves your eyes that always see him for what he is, and your cold hands that are always so gentle even though you could never hurt him, and your kisses that are sweet and unconditional despite the secrets you have kept.)</p><p class="post_body">“I’ll come for you soon.” His hands covering yours. “She will have a much harder time finding you without my help.” His lips on your skin. “I’ll cover your trail. Confuse the others.” His knees bent to bring him down to your level. “I’ll find you when they have nothing left.”</p><p class="post_body">This time, it is you who does not speak, because you do not have to. He looks into your eyes and he knows the question you have for him.</p><p class="post_body">
  <em>You’ll leave her?</em>
</p><p class="post_body">He smiles.</p><p class="post_body">“Yes. For you.”</p>
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